Everyday tools for everyday use, centered around rice bowls
Tableware is an important tool that supports the foundation of life. Utsuwa Shoken KAMAKURA concierge introduces everyday tableware that is filled with the maker's thoughts, with a focus on rice bowls that faithfully reflect the shape of your hands when eating.
The bright store regularly stocks works by over 30 artists, including vases, pots, and other items in addition to highly usable tableware. Owner Tomoo Shomi recommends the tableware of Atsushi Shimomura, praising it highly, saying, "The more you use it, the more you see its quality; it's a sure-handed work."
Yoshimi regularly visits the artists, eats with them, and exchanges opinions on the beauty, usability, and comfort of the tableware. Through these interactions, he says he and the artists think together about the true essence of tableware. At the store, he listens to customers' preferences and also conveys the artists' thoughts in frank words.
Jun Shimomura, born in 1985, is a potter in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Rice bowls are 3,850 yen each, and deep bowls are 6,050 yen. 
Seasonal flowers and branches arranged in vases also contain hidden hints for beautifully decorating the scenery of your life.
The gallery, which began in part of Kamakurayama's home in 2002, has gradually expanded and currently has three galleries within walking distance of JR Kamakura Station. In addition to the gallery facing Komachi-dori, he also holds solo exhibitions at Utsuwa Shoken KAMAKURA, which is open only during special exhibitions in the building next door, and Utsuwa Shoken onariNEAR, a traditional shopping street stretching from the rotary at the west exit of the station.
